The Beginning: Black Cats with Green Eyes
by MantyMouse
Summary: Before Harry, Ron and Hermione there were Sirius, James, Remus and Peter...and before they became themselves, there were those that defined them; the girls! This is how it ALL began...
1. The Twins

**Author's Note: **Hi and welcome back to old readers...hell newbies, to new readers :D!! Great to have you on board once more. This is a story i wrote a long, long time ago, before i knew about Harry Potter FanFiction and i'm just tweaking it a little bit as i go along. To keep you all amused while i have exams so i don't have to start a brand new story, there will be a new one as soon as all this school stuff is over though.

**Diclaimer: **If i owned this idea or this story do you reall think i'd still be writing on fanfiction and not be getting paid? lol obviously i don't. I do own the characters Amy Whitehouse, Sally Hoskins, Emily and Jess Orion, and many other characters that do not belong to Jk Rowling. Any characters that do appear that are from the HP series, belong to her and her alone.

**Blurb: **Before there was Harry, Ron and Hermione, there were James, Sirius, Remus and Peter...and the people that defined them; the girls! This is a story of the very beginning of it all. The years that helped the boys discover who they were and where their loyalties lay, and learn a lot about love. Where nine friends become bonded for life- however it may end- and get ready to make the move from Hogwarts to the real world!

_Everyone is unusual but some people are more unusual than others…_

***

Jessie is unusual in many ways. She has a twin sister, that's quite unusual. They live in a house, miles away from anywhere, not normal for girls of their age. Also her and her family were not at all alarmed to see an owl flying towards their house at breakfast time on a Sunday carrying an official looking envelope in its beak. This was because all of her family are witches and wizards and had been expecting their daughter's invitations to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since April, when both daughters had turned 11.

"This will be your school lists coming," said a pale woman with waist length black hair "They're a bit late this year, but you'll still have time to practice a few simple spells before you get there."

"Don't the Ministry of Magic have regulations on under age magic?" asked Jess quickly,

"Well yes," said a tall man sat at the table " But they can't detect under age magic when it's performed inside the house of an adult Witch or Wizard."

"Oh" exclaimed the twins together, despite being from a wizarding family there was still much they didn't know,

"So we can all go to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Continued the woman "Now, open your letters and see what they say,"

The letter read;

Dear Miss Jessica Orion,

It is my duty to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; term begins on September 1st when you will be required to take the Hogwarts express to Hogsmede station, via platform 9 ¾. The list attached tells you all the equipment you will need to attend the school, and the subjects you will be taking,

Yours sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Deputy head

Head of Griffindor house

Hogwarts

Attached to the back of this letter was a second sheaf of parchment, it read,

Uniform

3 sets of black school robes

3-4 pairs of black or grey school trousers **or**

3-4 black or grey skirts

Some shirts

2 school ties

3 school jumpers

A witch's hat for formal occasionsSchool Books One thousand magical herbs and fungi by Donna E Fungi A years worth of planetary movements by Martha Sky

Things that burn bite and sting by Norbert Singed

Charms for beginners by Charlotte Wisp

Defence training for beginners by Simon Sneak

A concise history of Goblin Rebellions by Alphard Hammered

Potions for first years by B.

Transfiguration made easy by Hannah Herbert

Other

You also require;

A pet;

Rat, cat, bat, toad, owl or raven

One cauldron

One broomstick (Optional)

Potions ingredients

Trunk (To keep other school things in)

Wand

Subjects

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Transfiguration

Charms

Potions

Care of Magical Creatures

Herbology

Optional History Of Magic

Ancient Runes

Muggle studies

Arithmancy

Divination

Astronomy

Thank you and welcome to Hogwarts

"Was yours the same?" Emily asked

"Er…yes, I think so," Jess replied

Both girls went out of the room talking excitedly and spent the whole rest of the day discussing exactly what Hogwarts was going to be like.

***

The next day dawned bright and sunny, the perfect day for a spot of shopping, both girls were up and ready at 7 o'clock. They had donned Muggle's (non-magic people's) clothes and were both looking forward to getting their school equipment from Diagon Alley, their parents appeared beside them, they too had tried to dress as Muggles but had made a rather bad job of it, their mother was wearing a flowery blouse and bright pink combats, and their father a baggy, faded t-shirt and suit trousers. Looking rather odd the party set off to a tube station were they caught a train to the centre of London, the family stopped halfway along a deserted street and turned into a dirty old pub, Jessie looked up at the creaky sign swaying in the breeze, it read; The Leaky Cauldron.

The pub's inside was much the same as it's outside, old and dirty, and they moved swiftly through it exiting through a back door into a grimy yard no bigger than a broom cupboard, their mum reached into her pocket and drew out her wand, she tapped a certain brick just above a dustbin and the bricks began to move sideways out of her way to reveal the street beyond.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" exclaimed their mother

"Wow!"

Both twins gasped in excitement, never in their 11 years of being Witches had they encountered anything quite like this, it was a long diagonal street with exciting shop fronts glittering in the sun and small stalls set up here and there under awnings. Everywhere they looked Witches and Wizards were making purchases, and chatting to each other, some were sitting down under a sign that said Florean Fortesque's ice cream parlour, and consulting menus. It had a shop to suit everyone and for a moment the girls stared at it awestruck, and then hurriedly pulled out their lists.

"Well, we could get our robes first," Emily said excitedly "Look, there's Madam Malkin's."

"Ooh! Come on!" exclaimed Jess, who was practically jumping up and down with anticipation. All of them moved into the shop. It was a sea of different coloured robes and hats; there were some pieces of material spread on the floor with pins in them and others being sewn together by magically controlled needles.

"So…" said their mother looking over Emily's shoulder at her list "So…we need '3 sets of black school robes'" she looked expectantly at Madam Malkin.

After about half an hour they came out of the robe shop their arms laden with parcels, and their Dad suggested that he went to get their schoolbooks for them on his way to get some gold from the girl's joint vault at Gringots Wizarding Bank. So Emily, Jess and their Mum made their way to Olivander's wand shop.

3 ½ hours later they returned home laden with shopping bags and parcels, both girls were hot and tired so they took all their new school things upstairs to their room to unpack straight away before bed.

Jess took out her wand and laid it carefully on her bedside table, it was 9 ¼ inches long made of yew with phoenix tail feather core. Emily's wand was 11 inches, Mahogany and had Dragon heartstring core. Next she unwrapped all her books and placed them in the brand new trunk at the end of her bed, before moving onto her favourite parcel, favourite that is after her wand, she ran her eyes admiringly over the new Nimbus broom, they were an entirely new model and she hoped that not many people would have one yet. She put her potion ingredients inside her cauldron so she would remember where they were, and put both of these and all her uniform into the trunk. She opened the window wide so that her new owl and Emily's new raven could get out to hunt before she finally laid her Nimbus in full view from her bed and thought peacefully of all the moves she would practice for the rest of the summer so she would be the best chaser at Hogwarts when she got there.


	2. The First Time Their Paths Crossed

**Author's Note: **Please review :) i didn't originally write this story in chapters, it was one long document...so splitting it up is proving challenging but i will get more chapters out soon! x

It was raining when they arrived at Kings Cross Station so they pushed their trolleys quickly towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 where they stopped and leant casually on it, chatting unconcernedly and then slipped gently though the apparently solid wall. They hurried about getting their luggage on the train and then hopped back off again to say goodbye to their parents.

"Now behave yourselves," said their mother hugging Jess goodbye

"And have fun." called their father as they climbed onto the bright red steam engine and it began to move, they hung out the window and waved as the train picked up steam and rounded a bend and the station disappeared from view.

"C'mon" said Emily "Better find a compartment."

"Right."

They moved on down the train and eventually found an empty compartment, they heaved their trunks over the threshold and slid the door shut behind them. The girls sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until their compartment door slid open making both of them jump in surprise. Stood in the doorway were three girls by the look of them all about their age. The one in the middle was short, with brown hair pushed neatly into stubby plats, and a freckly face, she said

"Can we come in then?"

"Oh…yeah-er-right." Emily found her voice first,

"I'm Amy by the way," she puffed, heaving her trunk through the door, "And this is Minnie," she added, indicating to a tabby kitten sitting in her arms. The next girl lifted her trunk awkwardly with a little help from Amy, she was tall and skinny with blonde wavy hair currently in bunches,

"I'm Sally and this Rowena, my rat, come on Lily." Sally turned around to help the final girl through the door, "We just rescued her from a whole compartment of boys who were really nasty to her." Sally added. The girl called Lily had big almond shaped eyes that were a stunning green although rimmed with red where it seemed she had been crying. Her hair was long and brown, scraped into a side pony-tail, the reason she was having so much trouble getting through the door was because her cat kept trying to claw it's way out of the compartment.

"Mildred doesn't like travelling." She sighed, as her cat hissed and clawed to get out.

"I'm Jess and this is Emily." Said Jess

"And my raven is called Hannah and her owl," Emily continued "Is called Enya."

"Are you to sisters?" Lily asked looking curiously at their matching black hair, green eyes and cheeky smile.

"Twins!" they said in unison

All five girls laughed, and for the rest of the journey they talked as though they were old friends. They soon found out that Sally and Amy had been best friends ever since they could remember. And Lily was a Muggle born who only knew one boy here; his name was Severus.

When they'd all changed into their school robes both Jess and Emily peered eagerly through window wanting to catch the first glimpse of Hogwarts. Amy brought her trunk down early so her and Lily could sit on it close to the window while Sally knelt on the floor next to them her nose pressed right up against the glass. When the train began to slow down there was a sound of scraping as trunks were lifted down from the luggage rack, their compartment had just started to follow suit when suddenly

"Ooh! Look! I can see it…oh wow!" everyone else dashed to stand next to Jess, a huge dark castle was illuminated against the stormy night sky, little patches of light could be seen where there were lights in the windows; all of this was reflected into a silky black lake. Amy bundled Minnie into her cloak and began to drag her trunk out into the carriage, Lily who was already severely scratched, was having trouble controlling Mildred as she too joined the crowded corridor. Sally put Rowena in her top pocket and held the door open as Emily and Jess heaved their trunks into the surge of students chatting excitedly. It was incredibly disorientating on the platform being jostled hither and tither by older students, then came a gruff but strangely reassuring voice from somewhere further up the platform,

"Firs' years…this way firs' years," Jess nudged Emily hard in the ribs,

"Look, Em, over there," She pointed towards a figure at the end of the station; it was a large silhouette, obviously a man, maybe it was just the light but he looked like a giant. The twins made their way over towards him where they stood for fifteen minutes with a bunch of other nervous looking first years. It appeared that although it was raining they were required to cross the huge lake in small rowing boats that moved of their own accord. Jess and Emily sat at the front of the boat with two boys just behind them one had very untidy black hair and glasses the other floppy dark hair and greyish eyes. Jessie turned to see Amy and Sally in a boat with a serious looking boy with short brown hair and a short nervous boy with a distinctly rattish look about him, she didn't have time to look for Lily among the other boats however as all to soon they pulled up on the shore; it was an odd feeling as she climbed out of the boat, half of her wanted to rush to the front of the crowd now heading towards the school and get it over with, the other half wanted to stay on those boats forever and prolong the moment when she would have to think about whatever determined which house they went into at Hogwarts.

***

The next few moments passed in a blur and Jessie found she couldn't remember them even if she had wanted to, one minute she was climbing out of the boat the next she was walking up a huge hall with four tables in it, the tables she knew to belong to the different houses, Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. She had never felt so small in all her life as the nervous crowd stopped to listen to Professor McGonagall, a formidable looking witch who was explaining that they each had to walk up to the stool she had placed in front of the teacher's table and put an old and tattered hat on their head. Though how doing this was supposed to help anyone chose which house each student would be placed in was totally beyond Jessie all she new was that she was glad her name was not first in the register. McGonagall placed the hat on the stool and before she could do anything a rip at the brim of the hat had opened and with gasps of surprise from the crowd it broke into song:

'_A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Griffindor, from wild moor,_

_The bravest in the land,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_The kindest witch at hand_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from dainty glen,_

_The wisest one of all,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from darkened fen,_

_The slyest of them all._

_They shared one true desire,_

_Nightly they did scheme,_

_Hogwarts was created,_

_Their wish it worked a dream,_

_Through their differences they did,_

_Form their own house, for each,_

_Did like to pick their favourites_

_From the ones they had to teach._

_Griffindor the mighty_

_He took the brave and true;_

_Ravenclaw the smarty_

_Chose the clever ones from you,_

_Hufflepuff, was a fierce friend_

_The same were worthy of admission,_

_And the power of great Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While alive they handpicked_

_Their favourites from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones _

_When they were dead and gone?_

_Griffindor, the clever spark_

_He whipped me from his head _

_The founders taught me what they knew _

_So I could chose instead!_

_Now pull me tight around your brains,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell where you belong!'_

The Hat's instructions seemed clear enough, Jess thought, just go up to the stool and try it on, but she wasn't sure how she felt about a hat looking at what was inside her brain, if she was truthful then she found it all rather unnerving. But Professor McGonagall was calling out names from the list now and Jessie listened intently as the group around her tightened instinctively,

"Black, Sirius."

The boy with floppy dark hair from behind her in the boat stepped forward, his jaw set his face expressionless, and Jess supposed this was his way of showing nerves, she held her breath, in fact the whole school seemed to be holding its breath and for some bizarre reason Jess found herself thinking _If this goes right for him, if he comes away looking happy then it must be alright for me, it just must! _

" Hmm, not a boy after the family trait I see. There can only be one place for you…Griffindor!" shouted the Hat

"Evans, Lily." Lily looked around rather wildly as her name was called out, as if hoping another Lily would appear and take her place

"Ravenclaw maybe, very, very bright. Hardworking there's no doubt. Ambition in ample amounts I see, and brave too. But where to put you? I know…Griffindor!"

"Hoskins, Sally."

"Bold and loud, a talent for trouble… Smart one too…perhaps…Griffindor!"

Next came the serious looking boy from behind Sally in the boat, he also was sorted into Griffindor. About ten people later Emily was called up and left with a happy smile, to sit next to Lily and Sally at the Griffindor table, all three of them turned around to watch as Jess walked stiffly up to the stool.

A few metres had never taken so long to walk and Jess felt as though she was doing it all in a dream and she sat on the stool staring resolutely ahead trying not to think that this Hat on her head was picking up on her inner most desires possibly even her worst ever secrets. After what seemed an age the Hat finally cried out,

"Griffindor!"

With a huge sigh of relief she went to join her friends at the Griffindor table grinning from ear to ear. The rest of the sorting passed in an easy relaxed sort of way although she was well aware that she may not have been able to cope if her name was right near the end of the register like Amy's. Once Amy, the rat-like boy from behind her on the boat, and the boy with glasses from Jessie's boat had been sorted to Griffindor and two more to Ravenclaw the hall fell silent, Jess wondered why this was, she looked to the teachers table and found the reason, a tall, old man with a silver grey beard and half moon spectacles was standing up, she found herself fascinated by him instantly and knew this must be the head master, Professor Dumbledore, she had seen those glistening eyes and benign smile before, on the chocolate frog cards; she suppressed a giggle. But he had a powerful control over the room too and when he spoke it was with a voice full of colour and happiness that enchanted Jess to listen to.

"To our new students- a warm welcome, to our older students welcome back!" He beamed around at all of them, "Just a few start of term notices before we all gorge ourselves with the amazing feast-" Jess failed to see what feast, the plates were completely empty "Firstly, the dark forest is strictly forbidden to _all _students, also Mr Filch would like me to remind you that no magic is permitted in the corridors between classes and that the extensive list of banned objects is pinned to his door if you would like to check it," here he paused and looked around at them all, " The quiddich team tryouts will be held on…" Jess sat up and started fidgeting in anticipation " The 7th of September! …" She did not bother to listen to the rest of the speech, all she could think of was the quiddich tryouts, she had until the 7th to fine tune all the moves she had tried out over the summer…She came abruptly out of her reverie as gasps sounded from all the first years around the school, the tables had suddenly been filled with groaning dishes of enough food to keep them all satisfied for at least a week. And what food it was too, there were dishes Jess had never even seen before, it was like a fairy tale banquet, just better.

After she had eaten far too much and drunk a lot of most delicious pumpkin juice Jess was brought sharply back to the fact that she still knew absolutely nothing about the school and was very much lost inside such a big castle, she worried for a moment as the school was dismissed and everyone around her had started to move, until for the second time that evening she heard the call of

"First years…Griffindor first years follow me please."

But it was jarringly different from the reassuring growl of the giant-like man called Hagrid whom they had met at the station, it was sharp and commanding but was coming, this time, not from an adult but a boy who was tall with dark hair and a red badge that said 'P' on it. Jess took this to mean Prefect and grabbed Emily's hand to pull her along. Emily tapped Lily, who nudged Amy, who called Sally and eventually all the first years were following the friendly Prefect up a mass of different staircases and Jess was sure that she would never remember her way back to the dormitories, let a lone to a million different lessons. After what seemed like an age they reached the Griffindor tower where the Prefect gave a password to a portrait of a lady dressed in a pink silk dress who someone whispered was called The Fat Lady, the portrait swung forward to reveal a cosy room inside.

The common room was stuffed full of old comfy armchairs and settees and a large notice board that had messages for the older students and the starting dates of certain clubs on it, she guessed that it would probably be full later on in the year. The Prefect, whose name was Carl, told them where to find their dormitories and Jess and Emily were delighted to find that not only were they in a room together, but also with Sally, Lily and Amy, the girls dashed up to the dormitory and started unpack, all the while talking non-stop.

"I'm going to try out for Griffindor quiddich team!" Jess announced, beaming at them

"Whoah…" Amy said softly "There are only three places and you have to be really good to get in your first year." Jess started, had she missed the part where Dumbledore had told them what places were free, what if there wasn't one she liked?

"Er…so what places are there then?"

"Oh, you know, one chaser, a beater, and a seeker. But you still have to be really good!"

"Jess is the best chaser ever, I bet she could beat anyone in those tryouts." Emily said earnestly, and Jess beamed at her. That was the best thing about having a twin; they would always stand up for you.

"Lets see your broom then." Sally demanded. Self-consciously Jess bought her broom from the trunk,

"Whoah!"

"Is that a Nimbus?"

"That's a new model, fastest one yet!"

"Told you she was going to be good." Emily finished proudly

"Although personally I can't see what all the fuss is about, I mean, it's only a game isn't it?" They all rolled their eyes, Lily just didn't understand.


	3. Tryouts

Jess woke up abruptly next morning with her insides squirming, for a moment she wondered why, and then she remembered today was her first day at school, her first day at a huge castle she didn't even know, it was bound to be a stressful one. From the fresh look of the sunlight it was quite early morning, so she was surprised to see Emily's bed empty. She dressed silently without waking any of the others and proceeded to the common room, upon finding that empty too she decided Emily must be having an early breakfast and walked towards the portrait hole uncertainly shutting it behind her and looking up and down the corridor. She relaxed again as she saw Carl the prefect walking towards her,

"Er- excuse me?"

"Ah yes. Are you a first year?"

"Y-Yeah," she wondered why he was asking this,

"OK well you can come with me, I've had to show 7 others where the great hall is this morning." And with that he strode off down the hall so fast that Jess had to jog to keep up with him.

When she reached the hall she found Emily immediately, her black hair stood out in any crowd, and made her way over,

"What's this?" Jess asked indicating towards a piece of paper on the table, Emily was holding a similar piece in her hand

"It's your Time Table, have a look." She thrust the piece of paper at her,

**_*timetable*_**

"What on earth is 'DADA'"?

"Oh that means Defence against the Dark Arts." Jess looked up suddenly,

"Hi Lily, looking forward to potions?"

"No actually, I've got Charms first and so…" She peered over the shoulders of the others "Have Amy and Sally."

"Don't worry I've got potions first too." Said Emily reassuringly

They said goodbye at the grand staircase, and headed down a dark corridor towards the dungeons.

Professor Slughorn was a plump, jovial sort of man who seemed to have a talent for choosing the high achievers as his favourites, and although both Jess and Emily were good at potions neither it seemed were up to Slughorn's favourite's standard.

Emily followed a Ravenclaw Prefect up to Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Jess walked alone to the green houses for Herbology, she didn't need anyone to show her where these were, you couldn't exactly miss a giant glasshouse. Upon arrival she found the only Griffindors she new there were the two boys who had been in her boat the previous night, Sirius Black and James Potter, so she went in a three with them as Professor Sprout, the fat but friendly Herbology teacher, explained how to prune a 'flutterby' bush. They didn't talk to her much but she supposed it was good that they at least did not object to her being in a group with them, so the lesson wasn't that bad.

The three of them made their way up to lunch in silence, and when Jess sat down with Emily and the others Sirius called his friends to come and sit opposite them, Jess returned his wide smile across the table, it was nice to have made some new friends.

At the end of a very tiring afternoon Jess could officially say that History Of Magic (HOM) was the most boring subject in the whole world.

The rest of the week passed most uneventfully, unless you count Amy getting attacked by a plant in Herbology. Jessie's favourite lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts and she had learnt a lot already, Emily's was Astronomy and she practically hero worshipped Professor Sinistra their teacher. Lily, however, liked potions and was already proving a favourite with Slughorn, Sally loved divination and Amy liked History of Magic, which was by common consent the most boring subject ever.

Jess was sat doing her Transfiguration essay and helping Peter (The rattish boy) finish his, Sirius and James were copying Potions homework from over Lily's shoulder, which she found very annoying, and Remus (The serious looking boy) was scribbling feverishly along his third roll of parchment. The other two had already gone to bed as it was nearing midnight and they had both finished their homework at lunch, Jess would have joined them except that at lunch she had been way to busy practising for her quiddich tryouts the next day. She yawned and announced that she needed to get some rest before her tryouts tomorrow,

"Yeah, I probably should too" said James he was trying for seeker tomorrow and Jess, having seen him fly once or twice, was fairly sure he would get in.

The next morning was bright and sunny, and perfectly clear, great conditions for flying. Jess changed excitedly, shouldered her broom and ran down to the quiddich pitch, her nerves mounting with every step. The tryouts were before breakfast, and Jess was very glad, as she was not sure she would have been able to face food right before this.

When she got down to the pitch she found the rest of the team waiting in their quiddich robes there were also about nine others with brooms but without robes that she presumed must be the other hopefuls like herself and James.

"Right, my name is Charlotte, I'm the team captain and a Chaser," She paused and flicked her hair off her face, she was tall and pretty with rosy cheeks and a wide smile "I'm going to do Chaser tryouts first, so, this is the other Chaser Hannah," Hannah had short strait hair and freckles and Jess could tell she was an excellent flier just from the way she took off "And this is Cathy our Keeper," She indicated to the goal posts where a girl with long blonde hair and a pale face waved at them from her broom. "And our Beater, Matt. Right lets get going, I'll have Katie in the air first please." With that the tryouts started, the first Chaser was rubbish, the next two were OK, both in second year, and a sixth year boy was good, although he was really arrogant and nobody liked him much. "Er- Right I'll have Jess next then."

Jess was shaking with nerves as she mounted her broom wondering what she would have to do but as she kicked off the ground all her worries disappeared in a brief rush of adrenalin. She was playing quiddich. This was where she belonged!

She showed Charlotte some passing, and the three of them were so good they seemed to read each other's minds, next she demonstrated scoring and although Cathy was said to be the best Keeper for a century, Jess put four out of five goals past her. Now she demonstrated dodging with some spectacular moves, Charlotte was very interested in the 'Sloth Grip Roll' that Jess showed her.

Two hours later Jess had been chosen for Chaser, James had become Seeker and another boy called Tom who had ginger spiky hair was the second Beater; Charlotte suggested that they have a short training session, just to give the new members an idea of what they had to do. The team worked like magic together, the Chasers flew fast and read each other's minds, the Beaters were accurate with their hitting and Cathy saved most of the goals the Chasers tried to put past her, and James caught the snitch so often in that half an hour that Charlotte stopped trying to blow the whistle every time.

When she got back to the common room Jess felt so elated with her success that she couldn't settle to anything, instead she and James took it in turns to give play-by-play descriptions of their tryouts.

"Oi! Jessie, James come here I want to see if these robes fit you."


	4. The First Nerves

Jess's homework situation was now dire as Charlotte was making them train almost daily, James too was sat up finishing homework, but Jess's heart wasn't really in it, she had her first ever quiddich match next day and had barely emotion to spare for a Potions essay or Ancient Runes translations. She went to bed after making a very shoddy job on both of these, but knowing at least she would have had some sleep before the match tomorrow, she didn't feel too guilty.

She awoke next morning and sat bolt upright. This was it. The test to see whether she was really good enough. She dressed silently and walked into the common room, here she found James sat with his knees pulled tightly up to his chest Sirius, Remus and Peter were all standing around him, she hurried over

"What's the matter?" All they needed was their Seeker injured today; they were playing Slytherin.

"Just nerves, don't worry!" Said Sirius smiling, and then his voice changed, it became gentler "How 'bout you? Feeling alright?" He sounded genuinely concerned so Jess decide to be truthful

"No, to be honest, I feel totally sick" Sirius smiled slightly and all of them made their way down to breakfast. They sat there for a while; neither Jess nor James touched their food, Jess knew she couldn't stomach anything, not this morning. And looking down the table Jess saw that Matt wasn't having much luck trying to get Tom to eat either, so eventually Matt gave up and called them both over so they could go down to the pitch before the stands filled up.

Once in the changing rooms Jess changed quickly then sat down, she looked at James who had his face buried in his hands and then at Tom who kept running his hands through his hair so that almost all the gel had come out, she knew how they felt because she was feeling it herself, she sat their clutching her stomach which felt so full of butterflies she was surprised it could hold them all. Matt put his arm round her in an older brotherly kind of way and she felt a bit better, just then Charlotte came out of the captains room for the pre-match pep talk,

"Right, I've only just found out the final line up for Slytherin, their Keeper is off on injury so they've got someone pathetic called Andrew Lodger and they're playing Ryan Thomas as Seeker and the usual lot for Beaters and Chasers, don't worry James, Ryan isn't anything special and I'm surprised Andrew knows one end of the broom from the other, so lets go!"

Slightly reassured by this speech Jess took her place next to Hannah, behind Charlotte. They walked onto the pitch and she was hit with a blast of sound coming from the stands, whether they were cheering or booing her team she couldn't tell but she was brought to reality when she nearly crashed into Charlotte, she had stopped and was shaking hands with the Slytherin Captain. There was a short blast from a whistle and Jess knew what to do she kicked off from the ground and all her nerves left her.

The first half an hour went well and Griffindor were winning 50-0. But it all started to go wrong, the Slytherins were getting more brutal by the minute and Hannah was knocked off her broom by a bludger, Jess took up the quaffle and streaked down the pitch, dodging a chaser, doing the 'Sloth Grip Roll' to dodge a bludger and finally she took aim, and shot. It was as though time had slowed down and for one lovely moment she felt an amazing sense of euphoria as the quaffle flew through the hoop, and then from nowhere a sharp pain surged through her body, a bludger had come in contact with the side of her head. Her vision was fogging up, her mind going blank. _No_ she told herself firmly _concentrate, just till they end of the match, stay conscious!_ She did the only thing that made sense as she swayed on her broom and flew towards the floor so she didn't have far to fall if she did come off. She was losing all sense of whereabouts on the pitch she was.

Just as she was skimming the grass floor of the pitch she heard the sound she had been waiting for. One long blast on the whistle,

"And James Potter has caught the snitch! GRIFFINDOR WIN!"

That was all she needed. She landed with a soft thud and dismounted, she held her broom and swayed violently. Charlotte caught her and Madam Pomfrey hurried about her and made her drink a potion so she felt slightly better.

Soon everyone in the team was hugging, and Emily and the girls were coming down from the stands to congratulate and cheer them, she hugged each of them in turn and then turned to hug Sirius, Remus and Peter. She got changed quickly, talking non-stop to James, and the others. Everyone said she was really brave, and Charlotte was talking indignantly about getting the offending Beater banned from the next match, Jess grinned, she didn't think she'd ever felt this happy in all her life.


	5. The Attack

**Author's Note: **_Hope you like it, please review :) _

he after match party lasted till two in the morning when Professor McGonagall came in wearing her tartan dressing gown reminding them that they did have lessons next morning, so they all traipsed off to bed.

Jess was first up next morning so she didn't wake any of the others; instead she decided to wait for them all in the common room and maybe right a letter home whilst she was at it

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm having so much fun, I've made loads of friends and I'm on the Quiddich team! We won yesterday against Slytherine, although I did get hit in the head with a bludger! My favourite subject is Defence Against the Dark Arts! Emily's Favourite is Astronomy though, she would have written too but she's really busy. I've got to go now too or I wont have time to post this!

Lots of Love

Jessie

P.S. I'm keeping up with all my homework so don't worry mum!

She reread the letter, and decided it sounded OK; she sealed it and walked towards the portrait hole to go to the owlery. Suddenly she heard some thing, someone was speaking in a strange language, she couldn't fully understand but it sounded like a song and whoever it was they were whispering. She looked around, it sounded as though the voice was coming from inside the walls,

_Shiva liastini. Can't pass. Daemon haemophilia. Blood traitor, must die, must die, Must-_ Jess ran for the portrait hole screaming in sheer terror, but it wouldn't open, instead some force threw her back, she smacked her head hard on the table. Someone was coming through the portrait,

"Help!" she screamed, _what are they supposed to do anyway_, she thought,_ I can't even see what's attacking me! _That someone laughed, a cold, cruel laugh that made the hair on the back of neck stand up. It pointed its wand at her, straight at her heart. _Is this it?_ She thought, _whoever it is they're going to kill me_.

Then she heard a shout from the direction of the dormitory staircase followed by a higher pitched scream. The figure turned and ran, it reached a window and launched itself out, but not before she had seen the silky dark hair falling almost to the floor under it's hood.

At the last minute the thing turned and fired a spell at her, and then she felt the now familiar sickening falling sensation that she had come to associate with fainting. For the second time that week she found her vision fogging up, she stumbled backwards and just when she thought a huge smack (her hitting the floor) was about to occur, the falling sensation stopped. Strong hands had caught her before she could hit the floor; they were moving her into sitting position.

She recovered her senses slightly and turned to see who had caught her, it was Sirius. But this was Sirius as she had never seen him, he was white and shaking his eyes were wide with fear and surprise. Suddenly the common room door opened, Jess tensed up instantly for fear of what might appear out of it next but she relaxed and fell back into Sirius's arms as she saw her sister, also white as a ghost, and a worried looking professor McGonagall,

"Miss Orion, Mr Black, you will both follow me to the Head Master's office, immediately."

Sirius got to his feet and then turned and held out his hand to Jess, she got up gingerly and swayed a little, then stepped forward more purposefully. They walked towards the portrait hole, and for one minute she tensed up as they neared it, fearing what was going to jump out this time, but they climbed through the hole unscathed and proceeded to Dumbledore's office.

Jess felt numb as she walked, and she couldn't stop shivering, the scene she had just been involved in kept replaying in her mind's eye, getting more dramatic every time. They reached a stone gargoyle and McGonagall stopped abruptly,

"Chocolate Frog." she announced clearly, _what on earth is she on about?_ Jess barely had time to process this thought when the apparently solid Gargoyle leapt aside, with surprising agility for something made of stone, to reveal a spiral staircase beyond. They all stepped onto this staircase, which began to move upwards until they reached a large wooden door, Professor McGonagall rapped smartly on the door three times before entering. Jess gasped. She had never seen a room quite as beautiful as this one, and she gazed around it in awe, all thoughts of what had just happened temporarily driven from her mind.

The room itself was a tower room, like the common room, and was octagonal; its walls were lined with the portraits of previous Headmasters or Headmistresses all of which were peacefully sleeping. The room was filled with small tables and cupboards all containing interesting little instruments and whatnots, but best of all was Dumbledore's bird. Jess guessed it was a phoenix because of its' red and gold plumage and noble looking face. The room had such a sense of peace about it the contrast with the last few minutes of her life couldn't be more different. Suddenly her thoughts were broken into by a cough from Professor Dumbledore,

"I am to understand you have been attacked Miss Orion?" He asked, Jess started, news spread fast, she had only just got her head around that fact.

" Er-Yes I have. Do you have any idea who did it Sir? How can someone in the school want to hurt me? And-" Her brain was now working over time, with every thought she had another question would appear. "If they weren't in the school how did they get in?"

"I have a theory, yes, but first you must describe to me exactly what happened."

Jess panicked, the idea of describing the attack sounded dreadful, she didn't want to revisit that moment again, and it was hard to remember the facts, everything had become jumbled in her mind. She began slowly,

"Well first I was writing a letter, to my mum and dad, when I heard this voice-" She stopped, marshalling her thoughts,

"This voice," Dumbledoor prompted her gently and Jess tried again,

"Yeah, well it said- er- I'm not exactly sure, like a spell or a song or something, in a different language. Any way I understood some of it, it said: Can't pass, blood traitor, M-must die!"

"So I-er- ran towards the door, you know, to get out, 'cause I was quite scared. And well I'm not exactly sure, I mean I saw a person, in a black hood coming towards me, and I kind got thrown off-"

"Then I screamed, and hit my head really hard on a table, and it, well she, just laughed, and kept coming, she pointed her wand at me, I-I think she was going to kill me!"

"That's when me and Em came down," Sirius interrupted

"So anyway, it kept coming until it heard Emily scream, then turned and ran towards the window, it fired a spell at me, then I don't really remember." This was not entirely true; Jess didn't want to voice her suspicions in case she sounded stupid.

"We saw, didn't we Sirius," Emily said, he nodded "Yeah it- did you say she? -O.K. well she launched herself out the window, and I thought I saw…" She looked at Jess and Jess knew she knew.

" Thank you Mr Black, you may go now. Oh and 10 points to Griffindor for your actions this morning." Sirius nodded and walked towards the door, still looking rather stunned.

"Can you describe to me exactly what this woman- yes I have no doubt it was a woman- looked liked," Jess looked up at him, those bright blue eyes seemed to almost be looking straight through her into her mind, she looked away, realising that no matter how stupid her suspicions sounded she had to tell the truth now.

"Well, like I said she was wearing a cloak, black with a hood, and she was tall and slim and-" she hesitated "And Sir, I thought it was, well it looked like…Emily."

"And Sir," Emily piped up, looking hurt and confused "I swear I didn't do it. But I thought it looked like Jess, but it couldn't have been either because we were both there, if you get what I mean."


	6. Halloween

Dumbledore sighed and surveyed the girls over his half moon spectacles,

"I wont make any pretences, and I think that you are perfectly old enough to know. Your looks are so like many others in your family, very distinctive as an Orion, both of you, and I am one hundred percent sure it was another Orion that attacked you today. You see, three days ago we received information that your cousin, a very talented witch who has been a useful spy and fighter for many years now, has joined forces with, the recently risen to power, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters…You know what Death Eaters are?"

"We do." Said Emily grimly. Oh they knew the Death Eaters all right, their parents were both aurors (dark wizard fighters) and the Death Eaters were counted as scum under their roof.

"And do you know why she was here today? Do you think she was trying to kill us?" Jess new it sounded over dramatic, but she had to know.

"Yes," He said gravely "Yes, I'm sure that is exactly why she was here, to kill you. And although she didn't manage it tonight I am also sure that this is only a first attempt. So I warn both of you to be constantly on the look out, anything unusual, you must alert either professor McGonagall or myself. Am I understood?" They were both somewhat alarmed by the seriousness of his tone, but said

"Yes Sir." all the same. Then Jess ventured another question,

"Why? What have we done?" but the look on Dumbledore's face stopped Jess in her tracks, it was clear that the conversation was closed.

They got back to the common room later, rather shaken but otherwise all right, the only damage Jess had sustained from the attack was a very sore head. Every one was waiting for them when they got back and Jess was glad they'd brought up some sandwiches from the lunch table, she was ravenous, having already missed breakfast.

She hugged all the girls and assured them she was fine,

"But you might not have been fine," Lily persisted "If it hadn't been for Em and Sirius then whoever it was might have killed you!"

"I think she could have killed Sirius and Em too, if Em hadn't run for the portrait hole in time."

"So you know it was a she then?" Amy asked quickly, "Did Dumbledore tell you who it was?"

"Er- well I know it was a she 'cause I saw her, but Dumbledoor didn't- I mean he didn't know- well he didn't say who he thought it might be." Emily opened her mouth to speak but Jess shot her a meaningful look that plainly said, _don't tell them_.

It was a fine day and Jess, wanting to draw the talk away from the attack, suggested that they all go down to the grounds to finish their homework (An essay on the theory of the Wingadium Leviosa charm). All the girls collected their bags and made their way down, the boys having refused the invitation.

Once down there they took up their favourite place by the lake and began to lazily start their homework. It started off well but eventually they all switched homework so that they were doing their best subject for someone else. This meant all the Astronomy and Transfiguration homework went to Emily, and all the Potions and Herbology to Lily, all the Charms and Divination to Sally, Amy got History and Magical Creatures and Jess took everyone's Defence and Ancient Runes. So all the homework got done in the end and the boys joined them for a pleasant hour or two of mucking around and playing Tag before they all went to dinner. Jess was ravenous by this time and so had double helpings of Shepherds Pie and ice cream for pudding.

She went to sleep that night feeling about as happy as one can do after you've been attacked during the day.

The weeks of September got colder and the homework harder so that every time you felt like an early night their was another essay to do which meant that you were not alone in staying up till midnight scribbling along your parchment. However as October dawned a new kind of excitement gripped the castle, one that came with the Halloween feast that was to be held in a few weeks time.

Back at home every Halloween their parents had left them with their grandma and disappeared to somewhere (Diagon Alley Jess now realised), and retuned home in the evening with loads of decorations and the most wonderful food, their mum had always bought them a small present back to make up for them not going.

Jess had never felt less like joining in the castle's celebrations, she supposed she should be excited about her first ever Halloween at Hogwarts but she wasn't, and nothing anyone said made any difference. The news of her attack had spread far and wide but unfortunately it had been distorted, as gossip so often is, and now the Slytherins seemed to have made it their duty to tease Jess about it whenever they got the chance. This made potions nearly unbearable, and the teacher wondered why she was getting bad marks.

"Oi! Orion." she looked round

"Want us to set some cushions out in case you faint Orion." then the guy next to him did a stupid impression of her fainting

"Come now Lestrange, pay attention," said Slughorn happily; Lestrange leered at her across the classroom, Jess made a very rude hand gesture towards him,

"Now then, was that really necessary Orion." he said again, Jess scowled and turned back to her cauldron. Five minutes hadn't gone when Severus Snape, Lily's supposed friend, called across the classroom,

"Hearing things again Orion, need your boyfriend to save from the scary voices coming out of the portrait hole. Aaawww!" Lily glowered at him. Snape was usually her friend but recently he'd been a complete jerk, as far as Jess could see he was a jerk to everyone except Lily.

"Oh yeah, really scary Snape. 'Cause you wouldn't be scared if someone had just tried to do you in would you? No. I'm such a baby! That's right, laugh it up boys. Very funny." She shouted. And without another word she left the room and ran to the Griffindor tower.

Sirius and James were the first to join Jess in the common room that night (she had not gone down to dinner) but no matter how hard they tried she just wouldn't cheer up

"Don't worry Jess, _Snivellus_ is a slimy git. Just ignore him."

"Yeah." said James "We jinxed him on the way out of potions, he got a nasty combination of Horn Tongue, from Emily, Jelly Legs from me and repeated fainting from Sirius, so he shouldn't be out of the hospital wing for a while."

"We didn't have time to get my cousin and her vile boyfriend Lestrange though. Pity. If only McGonagall hadn't turned up…"

"You and James would have jinxed half the Slytherins to death." Jess was laughing now, and they passed the time until the others arrived comparing what they were going to do to the Slytherins if they ever got close enough.

On the day of Halloween all lessons had been postponed so that there was plenty of time to get ready for the Halloween feast. They all had to wear smart or formal clothes that meant that every girl inside the castle was having a secret and unspoken competition to see who had the nicest dress or the best shoes, Jess was very excited. Emily, Jess, Sally, and the boys played chase around the lake while Lily and Amy compared notes on something (goblin rebellions probably!) Jess was running away from Sirius when Lily announced they were going for lunch, she skidded then fell flat on her face. James held out his hand to help her up and told Sirius off for chasing her, they argued happily all the way to lunch where they ate double helpings. Then the girls went off to get ready and the boys mucked about playing Wizard Chess and Exploding Snap.

"Oh come on. You can't need four hours to get ready?" James called after them incredulously.

They hurried upstairs to begin the onerous task of deciding what to wear. Jess searched fruitlessly through her trunk and then the girl's joint wardrobe, as far as she could see there was nothing there suitable for a Halloween Ball or party, or what ever it was.

"Right," Sally announced triumphantly, "I think I've whittled it down to three suitable outfits here. How's every one else doing?" They looked at her despairingly, "Oh dear." She muttered.

Sally went right to the very bottom of every trunk and dug out outfits to be marvelled at from each and every one, but so far nothing quite suitable had turned up.

"Aha!" She cried suddenly, all the girls looked up,

"Oh! I'd forgotten about that." Lily breathed, Sally was holding up a strappy dress in pale pink with a flower on each shoulder. It came down to just above Lily's knees, when tried on and clung delicately to her, showing off a pretty pink flush in her cheeks.

After much scraping and searching and wondering, every one had suitable attire for the party. Lily had managed to fit into some pink sandals of Sally's and they went wonderfully with her dress, a pink ribbon in her hair and matching bracelet and Lily looked adorable. Amy had eventually settled on red velvet mini skirt and a black top that revealed slightly too much flesh, she wore a little diamond necklace round her neck and had straightened her hair into a strict side parting with the help of three bucketfuls of hair spray. At the very back of the wardrobe, with extreme protests from Emily, Sally had found a white dress (previously worn to be a brides maid). It had a tight bodice, a little too tight, and a skirt that reached just below Emily's knees, with a net covering over it, Amy hurriedly curled Emily's hair and found her suitable shoes. Sally squeezed herself into an old purple dress that was tight with a short skirt and shimmered when she walked. She wrapped her hair into a bun and found some high heels to strut in. That just left Jess. In Sally's trunk they found a little black dress for her to wear. Strappy and tight at the top then loosening, it was glittery and smooth; Jess liked the feel of it. She took the sides of her hair up and held them loosely with a rose.

"All done?" Sally looked around proudly, "Right then, down we go," She said enthusiastically.

They descended the dormitory stairs a little self-consciously and entered the common room to a series of wolf-whistles

"Ooh! Look at you." James said appreciatively, he looked Sally up and down and then, with mock seriousness he said

"Will you be so kind as to escort me to the feast my lady?" she giggled then followed play and held out her arm

"Of course my lord." Sirius looked from Jess to Emily then said

"I can't chose which lovely young lady shall accompany me to the feast, so if you would both be so kind?" Emily dropped a little curtsey

"Certainly my lord." they said in unison, and grinning he took both their hands. Amy grabbed Peter's hand and Lily took Remus's and together they made their way down to the Great Hall.

The decorations for Halloween were like nothing Jess had ever seen in all her life (this was saying something as, being witches and wizards her family celebrated Halloween almost more than Christmas) The ceiling was grey and stormy and had clouds of real life bats. Jack'o lanterns floated all around and candles were magically suspended just above the tables. But the food was more impressive even than on the start of term feast, the dishes were all extravagantly prepared and tasted wonderful.

The eerie music that had been playing all through the feast stopped suddenly and Dumbledore started to talk. Jess paid him absolutely no attention what so ever and when he dismissed them all she didn't realise until she saw Sirius laughing at her,

"You really weren't listening at all were you?" she laughed along with him as they made their way back up to the tower.

Jess took off her dress and hung it neatly up next to the others, she took her rose out of her hair and placed it on her bed-side-table then she pulled on her pyjamas and climbed into bed thinking of the Quiddich game they had in two weeks time against Hufflepuff. They were going to win, she was sure.


	7. Kissing Was Strange

As November began even the boys found themselves spending increasing amount of time in the library and Jess hardly ever saw Sally and Emily these days as when they were not studying they haunted the Astronomy and Divination towers always returning with smug faces as though they had actually Seen. Lily and Amy _were_ her best friends but they never quite made up for the other two, and she was fairly sure they were thinking similar things about her.

"Jess will you look where you're going. Hannah just passed to you."

"Sorry. I was a bit preoccupied with the lightening actually!" This was officially the worst training session the team had ever had; James had totally lost the snitch and the boys could barely see the bludger. To cap it all Cathy was recovering from a sprained wrist and needed to rest it if she was going to be able to play at all this Saturday.

"I think we'll have to call it a day!" Charlotte shouted over the howling wind and rain,

"What?" Matt shouted back,

"I said: Time to call it a day!" She indicated to the changing rooms and her team flew dejectedly to the ground, slipping and sliding in the mud. They got soaked on the way back up to the castle from the changing rooms, talking tactics the whole way.

Jess couldn't concentrate in double Potions the next day, and twice in Herbology James had to grab her hand to stop her drowning the Belladonna seeds they were planting. She saw Sirius looking at her rather concernedly as they waited for the others before lunch,

"Quiddich on Saturday." She told him,

"Ah." He nodded "Got pre-match nerves?"

"She's not the only one." James muttered as Sally and Peter caught up with them.

Jess had just settled down to do her homework when the common room door was flung open and in walked Emily and Sally. Emily threw herself down on the sofa, picked up her copy of _Those Who Walk In Moonlight_ and began to flick lazily through the pages,

"Haven't you got homework to do?" Lily asked reproachfully, as Sally too sunk into an armchair and started reading, with apparent relish, _Spinners and Shadows_.

"Nah! Done it all." She laughed easily, and then seeing Amy's expression said "Honestly, we did it at break, didn't we Em?" She looked up and nodded.

Friday came and Jess was still feeling just as nervous as before, no matter how much Sirius told her that Hufflepuff were a push over and Lily maintained that it was only a game, Jess still couldn't concentrate on anything except the outcome of this match. Every time she glimpsed Tom that day he was wearing an expression of grim determination on his face.

"Oh my god! I've got so much homework." she groaned "Here you do my Potions Lils and Herbology and I'll do your Care Of Magical Creatures for you and your Defence." So it was sorted, she got three other pieces of homework to do in exchange for hers. Fair enough.

She went up to bed that night feeling sicker than she'd ever done, except, perhaps before the first match, but this wasn't the same kind of nerves, it wasn't the blind panic she had felt before facing Slytherin, it was something very different and very determined.

She woke up just after dawn on Saturday and silently pulled back her hangings. She got changed, shouldered her broom, and crept out of the dormitory into a silent common room. She could see James's broom on the table but she couldn't see James, still being rather wary of the common room at this time of day she called out timidly

"James! James are you there?"

"Yeah. I'm over here Jess." She spun round to find him sitting on the window ledge staring out, an odd expression on his face. He stood up.

"I thought you'd be down soon." His voice had a flat sort of tone to it, still very odd.

"Are you all right? James?" He turned to face at her, a strange, distant look in his eyes,

"I'm fine…" A smile crept onto his lips now. Jess found herself walking towards him, she didn't know why but she couldn't stop herself. She stared at her feet as she reached him, dimly aware of her senses on fire and his arms reaching out to touch her. Hurriedly and confusedly she looked up into his face, a question half forming in a whisper,

"Are you sure?" she was short of breath and if her face got any redder she could compete in a contest for largest tomato.

"Yeah. In fact I'm-" But what he was she never found out, before she could do anything he had wrapped his arms around her waste and his lips were bending to meet her own.

Kissing was strange. It was just a little, very gentle kiss, on the lips but when they broke apart her mouth was tingling madly and James was grinning. She pulled away from him, to confused for words, half of her thought, _how dare he_, and wanted to slap him, the other half, possibly the more truthful half wanted him to carry on kissing her for ever. There was a moment of awkward silence in which James continued to grin at her and then she came to her senses as they heard someone coming down stairs. Jess turned to leave tears welling in her eyes, she grabbed her broom and ran out of the portrait hole.

She dumped her broom by the changing room and went for a walk round the lake, thoughts reeling, feeling betrayed. James was her _friend, _only a friend so why would he confuse her like that? She didn't fancy him; she'd never fancied any one as yet. _Why? Why did he do it? Why me? Why not Sally or Amy, they like that sort of thing?_

**Because he likes me.**

_I thought first kiss was supposed to be magical? _

**It was**

_No it wasn't! He's one of my best friends and he just kissed me._

**I've got to tell him, James and me wouldn't work out, and I don't want to lose him.**

_As a friend, no I don't. He's the best mate I ever_-

At this point a voice interrupted her private battle,

"Jess. Hey Jess wait up." No, she thought, no I don't want to talk to anyone. But she couldn't say that, not to Sirius, he hadn't done anything wrong after all. So she turned and waited,

"Jess I've got to explain, for James," She nodded

"Only can you explain on the way over to the changing rooms or I'm going to be late."

"OK. Well, he does like you, but he thought you liked him." He held up a hand to silence her angry protests, "Not like that, you know what I mean. Just he thought maybe you'd like to go out with him. I'm not saying the way he let you know was the right way, if it had been me I'd have given you some warning, but if you could forgive him for being the worlds biggest prat just now and give him a chance, I'm sure it would be much appreciated." His eyes were twinkling playfully now, but Jess looked at him with complete honesty

"The way I reacted just now, I don't think I'm ready to go out with anyone just yet, but I don't want to lose him as a friend either."

"Don't worry you wont, I think he was just interested to find out, you know, but I doubt he'll act any different around you."

"Good." she said with feeling.

"Be careful and avoid bludgers." she hit him playfully and turned into the changing rooms to get ready.

***

A wave of nerves hit her as she heard the crowd gathering outside, was she ever going to get over this?

"Listen, Hufflepuff are a push over. One of their chasers who I told you wouldn't be fit recovered two days ago but that doesn't make much difference. Right lets get going."

"Wow that's the shortest pep-talk you've ever given us Charlotte, congratulations!" Matt ran up to shake her hand in mock congratulations. They all had team hugs before they went out onto the pitch, was she imagining it or did James hold her for slightly longer than normal? He had taken the blow very good-naturedly and said that he didn't mind and still wanted to be friends. Which was pretty much what Sirius had told her to expect.

The whistle went and she was off, up into the air where she belonged. The team were great and Hufflepuff really were pushovers, she actually knocked one off his broom. The crowd were cheering non-stop, at least the Griffindors in the crowd were. And up above their team was flying around having a nice easy game of it and mainly chatting or lazily passing the quaffle.

Needless to say they won the match, 300-60, and as usual they celebrated in their common room. Jess had to drag Sally away from a group of boys to get the girls on their own for a minute to explain about everything that had happened that morning, all of them had been very annoyed when Jess had forgotten to turn up at breakfast so they couldn't say good luck! This annoyance vanished instantly when they heard what Jess had really been up to, and Sally was astounded that she hadn't gone out with him,

"You make the sweetest couple ever, oh why didn't you say yes?"

"It wouldn't work." she told them firmly "We're just friends. I'm too young."

"Good for you Jess." that was Amy,

"Lils? You think I did the right thing, don't you?"

"Yes. I think he was very cheeky, you've got far too much on your plate without having to worry about him as well." She was referring to the attack and Jess hugged her for mentioning it so nicely, when everyone else had been too busy to spare it a thought.

She went and sat with Emily for a while and they went over again all that had happened that day.

"Hey it's Sally's birthday soon isn't it?" Emily said, changing the subject,

"Yeah. It's on Tuesday. What are we going to get her?"

"I think I might get her something to do with Divination or Astronomy, she was born in November so she's a … Ah! Sagittarius." Jess rolled her eyes,

"Em, what has that got to do with birthday presents?"

"Oooh! Everything. I think I might go and look it up." _Good for you_, Jess thought, sometimes Emily really was mad. She picked up a copy of Teenage Witch Weekly and flicked through, here she found the answer to her problem of Sally's birthday present.


End file.
